Conventional fire alarm apparatuses detect heat, smoke, gas, the light of flames, and the like generated by a fire, and confirm a fire, upon detecting one of these factors alone, or a combination of these factors in order to prevent an erroneous alarm and the like. A signal obtained by such detection is supplied to a fire-extinguishing apparatus, a bell or the like is rung, and a sprinkler or the like is operated. However, it is difficult for hearing-impaired people to notice an alarm from this sort of fire alarm apparatus, and thus, there may be a delay in starting evacuation.
An alarm apparatus for solving the above-described problem that it is impossible to notify such hearing-impaired people of a breaking fire when a fire breaks out, is disclosed. This alarm apparatus gives notice of a fire or another emergency state by dispersing odor when a fire breaks out (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2004-326326, for example).
Although the above-described conventional technique discloses apparatuses that generate odor according to various methods, in all such apparatuses, releasing means is configured from a mechanical constituent element. Thus, corrosion and the like make it impossible to reliably perform a releasing operation in an emergency state. Also, it is impossible to efficiently disperse the odor. Accordingly, this configuration is problematic in that the people that are to be notified take time to recognize the odor.